You Will Never Feel Lost Again.

September 30, 2008 • 12:28 am • POSTED BY Ryan Brown

Well, that may not be true – but whilst driving all over God’s green and gray earth on a rainy Sunday yesterday, I realized something.

Soon – relatively (of course, of course) – there may not really be such a thing as getting lost while driving. Or at least we’ll realize a certain diminishing of those instances. There will likely be some sort of GPS in every new car, there will likely be GPS on almost every phone, and you and I will likely reach our destinations on time, more often. At that point, I suppose we will no longer be able to use “got lost” as a valid explanation for our tardiness – though I never really preferred that excuse anyway. After all, an individual admitting to getting lost is acknowledging that he or she is either incapable or inept! Who wants to bear that mark? But I digress; allow me to recover my course.

With a retreating cold in my head, a growing hunger in my belly, and an inconspicuous hangover seeming to permeate all primary body regions, I was nonetheless optimistically listening to that song “Wrestlers” by Hot Chip. That’s when my phone died, along with all hope of not getting unduly lost on my drive to 8 locations in the greater Philadelphia region. “How” I wondered “will I ever deliver these ad kits without the commanding voice of my mobile phone’s global positioning system?” Fortunately, I remembered the master Google Map we created, that I had, and retrieved it straight away from my man-bag. Boy scouts always come prepared.

In the end…  (more fun and some photos of the work after the jump)

I experienced a fumbling sort of success that day; it was all good in the outlying Philly hood.

The kits I speak of are just one segment of a regional advertising campaign we developed for Chestnut Hill College’s Graduate and Continuing Studies programs. The materials spanned media that went from traditional to nontraditional, expected and others perhaps surprising, generally pervading yet always unintrusive. As the campaign’s objective was focused on awareness and recognition, and we wanted to make the best use of a moderate budget, this felt like the right move.

We placed ads on bus shelters, the radio, shopping mall floors & doors, grocery carts, and, yes, even hand-delivered kits with bulletin board posters and stacks of postcards to churches, hospitals, and schools for the congregations and staffs, respectively.

Yeah, that’s right: from billboards in Times Square, to nationally visited and adored websites, to personally delivering ad kits to churches in Lansdale, PA; 160over90 does it all. And that includes stopping to have a 20-minute gab with a Presbyterian pastor about the fightin’ Phils, baked goods, and who knows whom from that one private school out by Harrisburg. Tell your friends about us.

Incidentally, where are the interns when you need them? And also, props go out to a ton of people for all of the CHC ad materials. Perhaps too many people to name.

Ahh, my first agency blog entry – overwritten like a true amateur.